This is a RETIRED (no longer active)group blog where filmmakers will talk about their films in distribution (any kind of distro: film fest, DVD, VOD, mail-order, theatrical, etc., as long as the film is or will soon be available for the general public to view) and other related topics. Enjoy. Blog Copyright 2006 Sujewa Ekanayake. Content of each individual entry is the property of its author.

Saturday, December 29, 2007

Description: A man threatens to break up with his girlfriend if she does not change an annoying habit.Starring Christine D. Lee and Rob Morris.Written & Directed by Sujewa Ekanayake. Sound: Fritz Flad.In 2006 & early 2007 this story was a part of the feature Date Number One, now it is a separate short.Release date: 12/29/07.Running time: 3 minutes+Copyright 2006 - 2007 Sujewa Ekanayake/Wild Diner Films.

Friday, September 07, 2007

Suddenly very active with production, so, until there are big news items to share on my iW carried blog (DIY Filmmaker) or this blog, I will be doing my day-to-day blogging & updates at the Wild Diner Films blog. A DVD release (for Date Number One) & new screenings, 9 new no budget features (to be produced over 18 months), and a short about race & indie film are the new projects that I am working on - read all about them here.

Film's Description: "Date Number One", a comedy about several first dates, is made up of 5 different stories: Story 1 - Just Another Ninja Searching For Love, about a ninja who goes on a blind date (ninja is played by John Stabb Schroeder from the DC punk band G.I.), Story 2 - A Romantic Dinner For 3, about a woman attempting to add a third partner to a romantic relationship, Story 3 - Washington "City Of Love" DC/Start Over, about a writer who tries to get back together with his ex-girlfriend, Story 4 - Air Quotes Woman, about a woman who always uses air quotes, and her search for a new boyfriend, Story 5 - The Superdelicious French Lesson, about a first date where a character learns a little bit of French in an unusual way. The movie has been discovered to be: "Witty" (GreenCine Daily), "Funny" (The Chutry Experiment), and "Sexy, Sexy, Sexy" (Hollywood Is Talking).

"The film is about as charming as they come...presents a world in which cultures don't clash, they mesh. It's refreshing to see characters who all appear to have a natural optimism, as opposed to the typical indie-film predilection for bitterness and cruelty. "- Michael Tully, Rotterdam & SXSW film festivals selected filmmaker & indieWIRE bloggerhttp://blogs.indiewire.com/tully/archives/010529.html

"...witty...often inventive...and, even better, airy: characters are given time and space to spell out their views...views that never bear the artificial markings of a Hollywood screenwriter's compulsion to reduce them to sound-bites."- David Hudson, Editor, GreenCine Daily bloghttp://daily.greencine.com/archives/002353.html

"...somehow, someway, in the end, the love of the characters, the positiveness of the film, and Sujewa’s disregard for conventions wins you over. The act of making this film wins you over. There is only a positive through line in this film, and that is rare to see, especially when dealing with characters in their late to early thirties."

Thursday, June 07, 2007

Wow, no one has posted here in a while! Hope everyone's projects are doing well.

I thought I'd just share a few quick things about my current project and a couple new things too...

My film "Killing Down" played at the Cannes Film Market recently and the DVD should start popping up in Europe and the Middle East in the near future. No domestic deal has been inked yet, but we have several offers. Still trying to find the best fit and honestly not in a huge hurry.

My new feature is moving ahead nicely too. Hope to shoot it in the late fall or early spring next year. Can't reveal too many details just yet, but I did just get word today that a name actress is very interested in one of the lead roles. So that is very good news! I will be posting more info about this very soon at my blog and in the trades.

Last thing is I'm developing a new Web Series too, and we're going to shoot it in late July and plan to "premiere" it shortly after Labor Day. Pretty excited about this new project for many reasons, but mainly because it's so different. We're producing 10 three-minute webisodes (the "pilot") with a very serialized/graphic novel feel to them. Got a couple recognizable actors for this show too, so I hope it helps build an audience. One interesting side note is I'm using AFTRA on this show instead of SAG. Seems a lot of web shows are going with an AFTRA contract. I've been told they're easier to deal with and have better plans. We'll see and I'll let folks know how the experience works out. A new website dedicated to this project along with a Myspace page will be up in the near future.

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Little over a year after its 2 screening/one night world premiere in DC & after playing a weekend in Seattle & a few more one night only screenings in NYC, DC, Takoma Park MD & Kensington MD, Date Number One will have its first one week run July 12 - 18, in the DC area, in Kensington, MD. Get all the info. here:

Friday, March 30, 2007

Charles Burnett's Killer of Sheep was shot on weekends in the 1970's for around $10,000, as a grad school thesis project. Now, about 30 years later, the much praised film is receiving a theatrical release. Read all about it at GreenCine Daily.

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Come catch a very special REMIX presentation of HEAD TRAUMA as it plays onthe big screen one final time in Philadelphia. This is the kick off to a number of national and international remix HEAD TRAUMA presentations - more details soon.

WHAT:SPECIAL REMIX screening of HEAD TRAUMA - a collision of music, movies,theatrics and gaming.music - Live soundtrack performances by Bardo Pond, members of Espers, FernKnight and DJ Chief Wreck'emmovies - HEAD TRAUMA and a special screening of a short claymationadaptation of Edgar Allen Poe's classic THE PIT AND THE PENDULUMtheatrics - sets, props and characters from the movie will emerge from theaudience - lights, fog and creepy fungaming - use your mobile phone to interact with the movie and watch inamazement as all the phones in the theater ring at once!

WHEN:This Sat. March 31st @ 7:30pm

WHERE:Philadelphia's International House (37th and Chestnut) on the U of Penn'scampus - on street parking and two parking garages in walking distance

HOW MUCH:$14 for all seats - seating is on a first come first serve basis

Monday, March 12, 2007

At Lucas McNelly's 100 Films blog there is a quite a bit of enthusiasm by a handful of people, yours truly included, about starting a web based independent film encyclopedia - a wikipedia for indie films, if you will. As a very early step in harnessing this energy, the group blog IndieFilmPedia has been set up. Interested people at the 100 Films blog have been invited to start organizing material for the wiki at the IndieFilmPedia. Maybe this will turn out to be something, maybe nothing, maybe a better working tool will be discovered, but, for the moment, here it is. We'll see what Lucas & the 100 Films commenters will want to do, I am certainly all for the project (as time permits).

Saturday, March 10, 2007

At the 100 Films blog, at the comments for this entry, there is a long conversation happening about creating a web based indie film encyclopedia, kind of like a wikipedia for indie film. Go check it out & join in if ya feel like it.

Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Read all about it here. And here is a bit of the post where Lucas talks about his new project:

" I've been trying to think of ways to make the no-budget filmmakers who, in my opinion, are an extremely important niche in the indie world, all that more viable to the larger film community. One method I've come up with is using the internet to write about them in much of the same way I'd write about the latest release from Focus Features. This serves two purposes: 1) it provides much needed exposure (even if it is only a little bit) for filmmakers who work very hard with little to no recognition, and 2) it's a critical voice by which they can get a sense of just how their film plays to someone who isn't inclined to dole out empty praise or criticize needlessly[1]. And being a no-budget filmmakers myself, I figure shining as much light on others as possible has to have some benefits, in terms of karma."

The film will screen twice during the festival, at the Magnolia Theatre in Dallas:

Screening #1: Saturday, March 24th, at 4:30pmScreening #2: Sunday, March 25th, at Noon

Very pleased to be screening at such a prestigious fest! Scheduled to be in attendance: uber-indie filmmaker David Lynch, Sydney Pollack, Lauren Bacall, Laura Dern, Sarah Polley, and Jack Valenti!Schedule note: David Lynch's new film, Inland Empire, will be screening directly after mine on Saturday, March 24th. Mr. Lynch himself is supposed to be in attendance to receive an award from the festival. Now, I ask you, wouldn't it be cool if he came just a little bit early to catch a little film about a guy who thinks he's a messiah?

Monday, February 26, 2007

No site/page for this film yet. But until the project is done & or until I set up a site for the film (& possibly even after that), updates on my new feature Filmmaking For The Poor, a comedy about low budget filmmaking, can be found here. I am working on the script now and I expect to be able to shoot this movie starting in May - June. Most likely the movie will have several stories about low-budget filmmaking, including one inspired by making & self-distributing Date Number One.

Thursday, February 15, 2007

Instead of focusing on the normal "How I Made" the film, the article talks about my foreign distribution and delivery requirements, etc. I haven't seen the story yet, but hopefully it's got some good info in it for filmmakers.

You can get a copy at most Borders Books or Barnes & Noble.

Also, just an FYI - we have two offers we're currently considering for our domestic rights. However, we might do a "service deal" to keep more control. Can't decide. Since we did well on our foreign sale we have more flexibility to choose on the domestic side.

One way or another though the movie should be available pretty much everywhere later this spring and summer. :)

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

In early '06 a few filmmakers, myself included, had a long discussion about the prospects & potential of self-distribution - the discussion was spread out over several blogs, most noticeably at David Lowery's blog. 2006 proved to be a year that, in my opinion, offered an unprecedented amount of highly visible (possibly due to blogging) self-distribution activity in indie film. Now I am interested in what interested people think about self-distro, post-'06. So at my main blog there is a post to get the conversation started. Check it out, comment if you feel like sharing some opinions & observations. Specially filmmakers who self-distributed a work in '06 or filmmakers who are thinking about doing so in '07. Thanks! So go here to get started.

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Hey everyone,In the current issue of Filmmaker, you can read about the efforts of several indie filmmakers in DIY distribution. In addition to jumping off bridges, there's articles by Lance Weiler, director, Head Trauma), Jay Craven (writer-director, Disappearances) and Lance's interview with EricBassert about Inland Empire.Here's the link.

Friday, January 19, 2007

Made a cool yellow t-shirt with black art (ad art from the '06 World Premiere, pictured), a coffee mug, button & a couple of magnets & an '07 calendar. A fun effort to raise some cash for the many distribution expenses that will come due this year as I distribute Date Number One. Check out the CafePress store & if ya wanna support the project, buy something please. The most important merch item of them all, the DVD, is on the way (definitely this winter/before March). Here's the store link. Thanks!

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Since I won't be able to make the annual pilgrimage to Park City this year, I started thinking about how I might be able to experience it first hand. The fest mob is a way for people who can not make it to the festival, to interact with those who can, in a sense creating a social network around the experience.

The "fest mob" http://workbookproject.com/mob is a social mobile experiment that makes use of a “mashup” of freely available websites and web 2.0 services. The goal of the experiment is to capture the festival environment from various perspectives in real time. Participants will be using mobile phones to text, photograph, and record their daily activities.

Festival goers use mobile phones to document what they are watching, attending, eating, drinking and seeing. Those who cannot attend the festival are able to contribute questions, comments and news that they are reading about the festival online.

Thursday, January 11, 2007

Received this note from Chris Hansen, director of The Proper Care & Feeding of an American Messiah today:

" American Messiah Fans,

I have received several requests for Proper Care & Feeding of an American Messiah posters — they are now available. Please visit the official storefront at www.cafepress.com/americanmessiah, and you can find large, small, and mini-size posters with the Andy Warhol-inspired American Messiah poster design!

Also -- an announcement about DVD availability is coming VERY soon. I’ll send out an email with a link to the online store where you can purchase your very own 2-disc special edition of the film.